Travel: A Marxist & Psychoanalytic Inquiry Why do people travel?

What are the class implications of travel? How does the business of travel fit into the capitalist system of the United States? What actions are people participating in when they travel? Are gender, race, and sexual orientation differences immediately perceptible when it comes to the marketing of travel? Aside from a MARXIST or PSYCHOANALYTIC approach, how else could one analyze travel (with examples)?

by Amanda Gruenke, Diane Lombardi, & Christie Michel

Travel v. To make a journey; to go from one place to another; to journey. travel agent travel brochure travel bug travel article travel bag travel book travel film travel permit

A History: Exploration – “The Age of Exploration” from the 15th to the 17th century – “exploration” comes about as a European search for trade routes to “the Indies” – coincides with/precipitates imperialism, colonialism, the formation of nation states, and the Columbian Exchange

Replica of a ship introduced in the 15th century for oceanic exploration

Columbus’s 4 voyages 1492 -1503 A 1507 map showing the name “America” for the 1st time

Christopher Columbus – pilgrimage - the New World - Treaty of Tordesillas - Marco Polo – Bartolemeu Dias – conquistadors – “Indians” – sovereignty – Vasco de Gama – Ferdinand Magellan – Westward Expansion – commercial middle class – Dutch East India Company – Orientalism – indigenous peoples

Modes of Travel

The Marxist Perspective“Practices must be analyzed in relation to their historical conditions of production, as well as the changing conditions of their consumptions and receptions.”

Going Camping Going to Paris

- Economic change that produced the audience (the structure) – The point of camping is to experience nature; this is needed because humans have been separated from nature due to industrialization.- Tradition that produced the practice (the agency) – The particularly American love affair with nature.-Camping materials can be found at specialty stores. - Equipment, tools, and a certain amount of knowled- ge about the outdoors are needed.- More likely to be consumed by the lower middle class than by the upper class; stratification continues in that one could go camping in a tent, or in an RV.- A temporary and partial escape from the capitalist system in that the way the means of existence are produced is changed; also an escape from the institutions of the superstructure.- Active consumption

- More likely to be practiced by the upper middle class and the rich (the reigning members of the bourgeoisie) as it requires more capital.-A mixture of passive and active consumption: Active in that another “culture” is being experienced and passive in that the culture is being presented in condensed from (museums, food, etc.)- Tradition that produced the practice – possible extension of the Age of Exploration and therefore perhaps another form of imperialism-Production/Consumption: entire sections of the economy are based on tourism – plane travel, hotels, museums, public transportation, television shows, guides, architecture, etc.

The Psychoanalytic Perspective“The most important instinctual drives are sexual. Civilization demands that these are redirected in unconscious processes of sublimation.”

Going Camping Going to Paris

- Nature represents the id: by going back into nature a person is going into a place away from society and the demands it makes on the ego and super ego. Also, by going camping (the rugged, tent and rubbing 2 sticks together kind,) a person is only giving herself the ability to satisfy her most primitive of desires.

http://www.sfc.ucdavis.edu/agritourism/factsheets/why.html

- This would be an example of escapism: because one can no longer “have direct access to the prohibited body of the mother,” one has to fill that desire with the substituet of going to Paris. Paris in this case is the signified. Ironically, Paris is the city of love, and romantic love is what is traditionally considered to be the ever fixed signified. (Think of couples escaping to a new place in order to “refresh” their relationship.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igt9AvnWBvk

Let’s Play a Game…Rules: we call out a vacation item, you tell us what category it fits in in terms of class, gender, race, etc.

Pictures & Questionshttp://www.sandals.com/general/butler.cfmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG7eGunfZww Q: What do all the pictures presented on the Sandals website have in common? Why do you think the resort is marketed this way? Is there a difference between the commercial and the pictures?

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/destinations/downtown-disney/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EePT75ynepc“Price Your Dream Vacation”Q: Is there anything ironic about the above statement? How is the Disney resort different from the Sandals resort? Are these differences apparent in their marketing strategies? (Cereal boxes, anyone?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Nk6aQU2KkQ: The travel brochures passed around earlier were taken from Hollowbrook Travel in Fishkill NY. There were no gay or lesbian themed/ targeted travel brochures immediately available. Why do you think that is? What is the main difference between this commercial and the Disney commercial?

What would a Marxist or psychoanalyst say about these “vacation” movies?